Improvement in burial-cases



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH ASKINS, OF ELIDA, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO ASKINS & BROTHER, OF

SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN BURlAL-CASES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 186,516, dated January 23, 1877; application filed October 17, 1876.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOSEPH AsKINs, of Elida, in the county of Allen and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Ooffins, of which the following is a specification My improvement consists in making-the coffin of a metallic frame, with glass sides, ends, and top, and attaching the handles to the bottom. it I In the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a perspective view. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section; and Fig. 3 is a longitudinal horizontal section.

The same letters are emplowed in all the figures in the designation of identical parts.

A is a metallic bottom, cast in one piece with the sash-frames A, which, as well as the bottom, are grooved to receive plates of glass slid in from above and sealed, so as to be air-tight at the joints. A horizontal framepiece, A also grooved to receive the upper edge of the glass plates, is then laid on the sash frames A and united thereto by screws, the joints being carefully sealed. B is the cover, laid on the frame-piece A and secured to it byscrews with a sealed joint, so that the coffin, when closed, shall be perfectly airti ht.

When the body has been placed in the coffin the air may be exhausted by airpumps, the suction-pipes of which are attached to holes left at D for the purpose, and prepared with suitable stop-cocks for excluding the air when the pipes are detached.

I am aware that coffins made with a frame of wood or metal, and panels of stone, wood, and glass, have been long known; and my claim is, therefore, not, broadly, for a coffin made with glass panels; but my invention is distinguishable from all before known, in this, that, when the glass plates are inserted in the sash-frame and tightly sealed, the supplementary horizontal frame-piece A is laid on and screwed to the ends of solid I frames A, which are cast in one piece with the bottom, and the joint between the top edge of the glass plates and the piece A may be perfectly sealed, so that the body of the coffin, as it leaves the shop, is perfect, and there is less liability to imperfect work and of breaking the glass than when the cover is laid directly on the edge of the glass plate. The body is thus made of one metallic piece with the panels added, so that it is cheaper of construction than those heretofore made, when the bottom is of one piece and the upright frame-pieces of separate pieces screwed to the bottom, and therefore mine is both cheaper and stauncher.

To enable the coffin to be handled conveniently, the bars 0 are bent to form handles on each side, and fastened to the bottom, under which they extend, and bent up where they are intended to be grasped, as shown. By making themin one piece and extending them under the bottom of the coffin perfect security is attained, which cannot be well given when the handles are merely riveted to the sash-frames.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isv 1. A coftiiucomposed of a metallic bottom and sash-frame, A A cast in one piece, the horizontal frame-piece A the covering-sash B, and the glass plates secured in the sides, ends, and top, substantially as set forth.

2. In combination with a coffin composed of a'metallic sash and glass plates, substantially as described, the handles 0 in one piece and extending across the bottom, forming hand-holds on each side, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOSEPH ASKINS.

Witnesses:

THOMAS C. OoNNoLLY, HENRY H.-BURT0N. 

